Entering Video Game
by nalagaOcean777
Summary: Taylor Durinsky is your average teen with no particular interest in games...until one day she gets more of video games than she could have ever imagined. But trouble soon erupts in their respective realms, and Taylor must find a way to get them back...
1. Prequel

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the related characters in this story, except for the narrator, of course. Hope you enjoy.

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Before we start this story, I want to get one thing straight. I've never been a fan of videogames.

It's a flat fact. I'm no game geek, or whatever people call them these days. But I had absolutely no interest in anything to do with the videogame realm. I liked computers, of course. I was great with computers, a pro with the word processor, a terror of the amateur movie-making business. But I didn't do videogames. I just didn't mix with that kind of stuff.

Until that one day came, two years ago. I was fourteen, at the peak of a teen's life…or at least, in my opinion.

I suppose I'd better clarify some facts first, of course. My name is Taylor, Taylor Durinsky. No, I'm not Russian. That's just my name. I was your perfectly normal teenage girl, if teenagers could be classified as normal at all. Back then I had straight black hair at around shoulder length…I liked to wear loose hoodies, preferably white or gray, along with casual jeans of a dark blue color. I had a pale complexion, probably from computer configuring, though I did like to play softball in my spare time. I suck at volleyball to this day.

But anyway, that part is beside the point. I was a normal teen. But note the 'was'. Yep, I'm not the same anymore. Interested yet?

Yeah, I've decided that I'm going to tell you a story. It's pretty interesting…you might like it. Then again, you might not. But that doesn't matter to me. The things that occurred two years ago are worth telling, in my opinion, so whether you like it or not, at least it'll remain, to be retold again and again.

This is a story about videogames, the stuff I used to be so distant from. Well, if you think I came to the games, you've got that part dead wrong. Nope, it was quite the opposite.

The games, literally speaking, came to me.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own any of the characters hereby related, except for Taylor herself, who is merely a figment of my imagination…as far as I know, anyway…

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I stared at the strange guy wandering along the street in front of my house, peering through the blinds of my window.

Yeah yeah, give me a harangue for spying on some clueless guy without him knowing it later. I'm not concerned about that. Besides, he wasn't handsome or hot in particular…heck, he looked like he could have been a couple of years younger than me, and I'm fourteen. But he looked lost somehow, and something about him flat out intrigued me, an intrigue similar to discovering a new art of movie-making on a laptop plasma screen. Though what this guy had to do with computers, I wasn't quite sure.

He wore a red-and-white cap over copper hair that seemed tidy for the most part. The vest-thing that he wore over that black T-shirt seemed to have a matching theme to the hat, and he wore your average light blue jeans. Over the vest spanned the straps of a yellow, battered-looking backpack that seemed to be chock-full of all kinds of stuff, and for all the world he could have been simply walking to school. Except that it was seven-o'-clock on a Saturday morning. Yup…definitely weird. But the main thing that interested me was the belt he was wearing. Sure, at least that would be normal too. Except that it was strung with six red-and-white balls that glinted in the early-morning light. Those things looked vaguely familiar, but I was fairly positive that I'd never seen the likes of them before.

All in all, he was definitely strange.

I watched in interest as he continued to wander along the street. At least he had enough sense to stay on the sidewalk, but he seemed completely disoriented, even confused. Lost? Anyone could have guessed that by now. I peered expectantly up and down the street, wondering if anyone in my neighborhood would bother to come out and hand the poor guy a few directions to get around. But that didn't seem to be happening any time soon.

I huffed a small sigh and took a step back from the window. It was a boring Saturday morning, and I didn't watch cartoons a lot, so you could say that I didn't have anything else to do. So I threw on a gray hoodie to ward off the cool chill of the autumn morning and stepped out the front door in my blue fluffy bed slippers. Hey, I was only going to be out there for a short time.

The boy paused and turned around, noticing the movement in front of my house. Crossing my arms, I started up the street towards him, pretending to be oblivious to his curious stare. By the time I managed to cover a few yards, I stopped and waved. The guy paused and then waved back unsurely, as though he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. I frowned.

"Um…hey, you? Over…here?" Yeah, I know I was being obnoxious, but I just wanted to see how he would react. He was already strange enough as it was.

At least he knew the local language, but I had expected that. He came forward immediately, almost breaking into a run. He was probably anxious to know where he was so that he could get back to his buddies or something.

"You lost or something?" I inquired when he was a respectable distance away. A few feet, to be exact.

"Um…yes…" The boy came closer, until he was standing in front of me. He had black eyes with a shape that I couldn't quite place, but I dismissed that. He was talking again, anyway. "Do you know where I can go to get to Pallet Town from here? I've got a battle to get to…"

I could only stare at him blankly. I had never heard of any place called Pallet Town…and what in the name of blueberry bagels did he mean by a battle? Was this guy looking for a fight? He didn't look too buff to me…

"Uh…sorry, but I've got no idea what you're talking about. There's no Pallet Town anywhere around here."

The boy looked just as nonplussed. "What? But I'm sure I was headed straight for it…I thought…but then there was that light…"

Okay, I admit it, I was beginning to freak out a little. Was this guy mentally disturbed or something? I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. But he looked so confused and lost…

"Eh…hey, look at it this way. My parents are out at work, so maybe you can hang out at my place for a while. We can…I don't know…look in the phone book or something for this place. And if we can't find it then…well, maybe my parents can help out…you definitely look lost…"

"You'd do that? Thank you…" The boy smiled weakly. He looked pretty relived, and I couldn't help but smile back, though my mind was in complete turmoil. What was I doing? Inviting a strange kid into my house to find a place called…Pellet Town, or something…my parents would probably ground me for life…and what would my friends have to say about it? But it was already too late…I couldn't undo it now and shoo the guy away…he didn't look emotionally sturdy, or at least not for now, anyway. I'd just have to go with the flow and see what happened.

"By the way…what's your name? You can call me Taylor."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Red…"


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: According to the responses I've been getting, I'd say this story hasn't gotten too interesting…yet. Note that last word. So don't give up on me yet!! You might be very surprised.

Disclaimer: I don't own the related characters, yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah. Let's get on with the story.

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No sooner did I step into the house when the phone rang. The phone, which happened to be situated in the living room of the house, and had an annoyingly plaintive jangle that no one could exactly ignore. I glanced at Red, who was looking around for the source of the ringing as he entered through the front door behind me. "That's our phone," I informed him quickly, though anyone could have guessed that. Feeling slightly flustered, I gestured to a sunken couch that sat against a wall nearby. "You just sit down for a minute and relax; I'll take care of it."

Red simply nodded and made for the couch, an awkward expression on his face as he took in the place that was my house. I made for the phone, which happened to be on the other side of the room, and picked it up, bringing its jangling to a grudging halt."…Hello?"

"Taylor!" The loud voice of one of my best friends nearly broke my eardrums. I jumped violently.

"Salem! What…what did I tell you about shouting into the phone…?"

Salem Cassidy, whose real name was in fact along the lines of Samantha Emily Cassidy, didn't seem to hear a word I was saying. She sounded breathlessly excited on the other end of the phone. But then, she had always been an excitable type of person. I could just picture her now, perched on the edge of her bed with its white sheets, phone pressed to one side of her head while she anxiously wound a lock of her long, bright yellow hair around one of her fingers, which was her customary indicator of agitation or excitement. Her bright green eyes were probably flashing like emeralds even as she spoke now.

"Oh Taylor, oh my gosh, you won't believe what's happening here right now…"The words tumbled from the receiver of the phone like a miniature waterfall, riddled with puffs of static breath. She must have been talking with her mouth almost pressed against the mouthpiece or something. I frowned.

"Um, Salem, if this is about some guy that might be asking you out again…"

"No, no, it's not that, not at all!" Salem was probably biting her lip now. She sounded almost nervous. And for the first time I thought I could actually hear something in the background…were those police sirens?

"Salem, what's going on back there?"

"Taylor - oh, Taylor, it's crazy! There's some kind of weird person in blue on the loose in the neighborhood right now - that's what the police have been saying -"

She was talking fast again. I sighed inwardly.

"All right all right, let's slow down a little here. What do you mean, weird person?" Not that I was particularly worried about my own well-being. Salem lived on the other side of town, close to our middle school.

"I'm not really sure, Taylor, but there are police cars and squads and everything…" There was suddenly a choking intake of breath at the other end that nearly deafened me with a small implosion of static. Salem's phone service had never been that good to start with…

"Oh my god!"

"Salem, what the heck's going on back there?"

"I - oh, Taylor - he's _here - _oh - he's on the front lawn now - but -"

"What?"

"…He's carrying…a sword…whoa…"

If this had been a normal Saturday, I would have laughed. But now something in the pit of my stomach dropped slightly. I snuck a glance at Red, who was sinking deeper into the couch and listening to the confusing talk on the phone with interest.

"Salem I - Salem?" I blinked. It seemed unnaturally silent on the other side of the phone, but I could still hear some quick breathing all the same. Salem was still there, but...

"I - Taylor -" Her voice was no louder than a whisper. "They're - oh, god!"

She had probably jumped, and so did I. For there had been a loud, piercing bang that even I could hear. The crack of a shotgun.

"Salem! Salem, start talking, now! What happened?!"

"Taylor - Taylor, they tried to _shoot_ him - oh - I think it missed but - he doesn't look well…he's running away!"

I was practically kneeling over the phone by now. Several breathless seconds passed. And then Salem's voice came again, uncharacteristically faint.

"He…he's gone. The police are driving away, but…they can't find him anymore. He ran away down some alley and they weren't looking. Oh gosh…this is so weird…"

I swallowed. "Salem…e-mail. Now. Get Alex too. And Haley. We need to talk."

For once she didn't argue. "All right."

Then she hung up.

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"So…this is e-mail?"

I cast a quizzical glance back over my shoulder to the curious boy who stood behind me.

"Um…yeah."

"…Is it some sort of new computer program? We wouldn't need it, would we…aren't there still the screen phones…?"

I had no idea what a screen phone was, but I ignored that for the meanwhile. The fact that he didn't know what an e-mail service was supposed to be surprised me a little more. "Well, it's been around for about three, four years now. I wouldn't think so." I frowned at him. "Are you from Japan or something? Did you just move here?"

"…Japan?" The very word sounded unfamiliar and awkward as he spoke it. As though he'd never heard such a name before. "No, I was born here. In the Kanto region. Same as you, right?"

"…Yeah. Sure." I turned away from him, failing to notice his baffled face. This guy had a weird taste in jokes. Instead I bent my attention on the laptop screen, where the inbox had finally booted. Even as I looked, three e-mails popped up, each having been sent practically at the same time. Which was around seven-thirty. The time it was now. I selected the first one up, feeling resigned. This would probably have been easier if she had a forum in access or something, but her parents had been very strict about that. Oh, well. She'd make the best of it.

_darksage: __So, weird stuff happening? __Inquiry for e-mails?__ I'm here. Reply welcome to come soon, or I'm dropping out. I don't usually have time for this._

Darksage…that was Alex Gaien. Or Alexandra, though she hated her full name. The darker, more secluded of my friends. Alex didn't have a single active bone in her body…she was a tall person, with pitch-black hair that she never did up or anything. The master of the art of laziness, though she was extremely intelligent. Figures she'd be grumpy on a Saturday morning. But that couldn't be helped.

I blinked, then clicked on the reply link and typed out my own message. 

_mad-scientistcreationist: Hang in there, Alex. We all here, or coming, There's big stuff __happenin__, but I don't want to talk __about it till the others hear tell._

There, that would do it. I hardly blinked as I selected send and watched my e-mail disappear into the multi-electric threads of the net. Red, still apparently interested, shifted from where he stood behind me, but I once again ignored him. Instead I turned my attention to the two other e-mails. I checked out the first.

_navyazurebleu: hello __taylor. i__ got a __call __frm __salem. __sounds __very __intrsting. __ready__ to hear __whts__ up._

That was Haley McKenly. I ignored the misspelled words - Haley couldn't help such mistakes. In fact, she preferred to write in that kind of format, short and sweet. A blind person could only do so much. I could just imagine my quiet friend right now, hunched in front of her laptop screen, painstakingly feeling her way around the brail keyboard specially designed for people with her disabilities. Being blind did nothing to her personality, of course - Haley was your average-sized girl, with short light brown hair that curved around her cheeks in an appealing way, who liked to wear sweaters all the time, even in summer. Her eyes had always been opaque and cloudy as long as I had known her, and though she could not see, Haley did not like to make a big deal of it. She was, in fact, quite exceptionally accurate with her other senses, and could almost act like a normal kid when she really put her mind to it. The only difference was the fact that she always wore glasses, day in and day out, with the kind of lenses that dimmed in bright sunlight and cleared in dark rooms, to protect and hide her eyes, which were still unusually sensitive.

I checked out the second and final one which, predictably, had come from Salem.

_dacassidy101: I think I've gotten everyone. They should have sent in their e-mails by now. Do we start?_

I twisted my mouth, turning to Red. "Well, if you wanna say something, just let me know. We're about to chat. If you get bored you can hang out in the living room and watch tv or something. In fact, why don't you go and do that? This could take awhile."

"Well, if it's all right to you…I suppose I'd better." Red smiled half-heartedly and turned away, his footsteps rubbing the carpet as he made back for the living room. Not feeling too worried, I turned back to the screen and began typing rapidly, sending out my words in reply to each e-mail. And so the conversation began.

_mad-__scientistscreationist__: Everybody here?_

_darksage__: yeah, I am._

_navyazurebleu: __im __here._

_dacassidy101: Ready as ever._

I gazed at the responses that flooded back, almost all of them exemplifying terseness. My fingers poised, I began to rapidly type.

_mad-__scientistcreationist__: Okay, we are meeting now because of several weird occurrences that have happened just a few minutes ago._

_dacassidy101: Wait. __Several?_

_mad-__scientistcreationist__: Yup, that's right. A weird thing happened to me too, this morning…about thirty minutes ago, in fact. _

_darksage__: Sounds interesting._

_navyazurebleu: __plz __contnue._

_mad-__scientistcreationist__: Okay, here it is. This morning, there was this…guy, I suppose. He was kind of walking around. I think he was lost. So I'm letting him hang out at my house for a while, to find the place he was supposed to be at. But that's where the normal part ends. He's got these weird red-and-white balls attached to his belt, and he said he was looking for somewhere called Pallet Town, I think…_

The message that came in bolted almost less than a second after I had selected send. Surprisingly, it came from Alex, who was usually sluggish about these things.

_darksage__: This guy…what does he look like?_

_mad-__scientistcreationist__: Well, let's see…he's got a yellow backpack and he's wearing a red and __white cap. He's got a matching vest, too._

There was a pause in the flow of e-mails, as though each of her friends were digesting this information carefully. Then, finally, replies crept onto the screen hesitantly.

_d__acassidy__101__: Sounds like a normal guy to me…except for those balls. Maybe it's a new fashion style?_

_navyazurebleu: __im __afrad__ I __know __nothng__ about __wha__t these __balls __might__ be._

Then came Alex's, last of all.

_darksage__: Is his name Red?_

I couldn't help but stare at the screen. Alex was smart, but…

_mad-__scientistcreationist__: Alex, how did you know that?_

_darksage__: I don't think you'll believe this._

I frowned.

_mad-__scientistcreationist__: Well, I'm __rea_

There was suddenly a loud, shattering sound from the living room. I jumped violently, nearly smashing my fist on the keyboard.

"Red?"

The response was distracted. "Um, not to worry! It's just my -"

By this time I had stepped into the living room, feeling slightly irritated and hoping he hadn't broken anything. However, the sight that met my eyes made my stomach drop. I could only stare. Sure, something had broken all right. But that was no longer my main concern.

One of the antique vases that my mom liked to collect was, predictably, lying in shards on the carpet, the small table that it had stood on knocked over beside it. And standing beside the remains of the vase, holding one of the china pieces in one paw and glancing from Red to me uneasily, was a…a giant mouse.

I wasn't exactly the kind of person that was terrified of rodents, though I wasn't any fan of them either. But that was the only thing that the creature standing there, staring at me with wide, anxious amber eyes, could be described as. It was bright yellow and not much taller than the vase it had toppled, which had been about two feet, give or take a few inches. It had a jagged, brown-tipped tail and small hind-legs like a rabbit's, with dexterous forepaws. It also had thin, black-tipped ears, cocked at a right angle, and it had a wide, furry yellow face with a little black nose, a tilted mouth, and a perfectly round red spot on each of its cheeks.

Sure, it might have been cute. But it…it most certainly wasn't from around here.

I could only stare and swallow for several moments. It were as though the world were falling on my head, or perhaps laughing its head off at me. Either way, the sensation was not at all pleasant. And I had no idea what to make of the whole thing.

"Um…" Red looked uncomfortable, but then again, something told me that he considered that yellow thing to be perfectly normal, that he thought I was flabbergasted about the vase instead. As though the whole thing were supposed to be normal. "Er…yeah, sorry about that. Pikachu!"

The yellow creature ducked its head, looking slightly frantic, and gingerly gathered up all the pieces of the vase. Then it pushed the stand upright, dumped the pieces on top, and turned to me. "Pika!" It bowed its head, as though in apology.

I couldn't stop staring. Nothing made sense anymore. Finally, I could only manage a weak question.

"What…who the heck _are_ you? Where did you come from?!"

Red could only stare at me, looking nonplussed.

"The…Kanto region?"

That was the last straw. I'm not sure what happened next, but I probably lost it. The last thing I remember after that was passing out against a chair, hoping it was all simply a very bad dream, a wacko illusion. Pretty interesting, but a little too real. Too weird.

How horribly wrong I was.

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Now I am going to switch perspectives a bit. I got the story you're about to read next from Haley much later, and managed to get some essential details. I'll write in a third-person point of view, so don't be alienated. This happened to be around the same time that I discovered the existence of the Pokemon called Pikachu. But don't worry - I didn't die of a heart-attack then. Expect to be back in my view very soon.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Eh, nope. Not mine. Not one little bit. Except for me OCs. Can't go giving those away, now can we?

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Haley McKinley sat back with a sigh, fumbling only briefly before finding the edge of the blue laptop and pulling that shut. Her hand then went instinctively to the right edge of her glasses and she took a breath, pondering the news that she had learned recently.

The laptop before her on its high-dollar desk had cost quite a few thousand dollars on its own, and for good reason. In its computer-automated voice it had recited the messages that she could not see, and could do many other things besides. But then, that was the tiniest fraction in the terms of her parents' financial balances. Put simply, Haley was the daughter of two extremely wealthy homeowners whom, figuratively, were away on international business meetings half the time. It didn't bother Haley too much, so to speak - she had never exactly loved her parents, anyhow. They hadn't even raised her themselves, but had left that to the numerous maids and servants that inhabited this mansion. If anything, Haley had ended up being a great disappointment soon after she had gotten into that car accident, her eyes damaged beyond repair…no, she was nothing in their opinion, a setback in their plans and a nuisance to call on the phone. That was all.

A brief bubble of sadness welled up inside of her, but she buried it again. Sure, it hurt her to think that her parents didn't care for her, but she had moved on, like she had when she had lost her vision. And there were more important things to think about anyhow.

Haley found herself still slightly mystified by the sudden dropout of her friend Taylor, who had initiated the computer conversation to start with anyhow. She had failed to respond ever since, but the talk had continued anyway, leading to Salem's description of the man the police had been after.

Haley frowned. She couldn't be certain about it, but it sounded rather as though a fully-dressed swordsman had been on the loose. But it certainly wasn't Halloween the last she had checked…that was still a few weeks away…so why were all of these people popping up. The boy named Red at Taylor's house was, in Alex's words, what sounded like an exact replica of the male avatar you could play in one of the earlier videogames of a franchise called Pokemon…and the swordsman could very well have been a part of some movie or storybook for all they knew…

She stood up and walked purposefully to where she knew the window of her room would be. She had no more difficulty parting the thin curtains and finding the latch, and threw the two panes of glass wide open. Cool autumn air caressed her face, and the sweet trill of birdsong filled her ears. Haley inhaled deeply, taking in everything - the damp scent of the small garden beyond, probably laden with silver droplets of dew…the soft murmur and rustling of the trees, even as they shed their leaves…the gentle touch of the wind on her cheeks shifting her short brown hair…the warmth of morning sunlight on her face…and a heavy breathing sound practically under the window.

Haley stiffened, straining her ears. Yes, it could not be denied. There was someone kneeling beneath the window, trying to suppress the urge to pant profusely and, as a result, choking slightly with every intake of breath. In fact, as Haley leaned forward slightly, she could almost feel a heavy atmosphere of tangible fear over the area…

"Hello? Is someone there?"

The person gasped - there was a frantic rustle of grass and leaves as whoever it was twitched. The sense of fear grew.

Haley frowned, then put out a delicate, pale hand to the area below the window. Sooner than she had expected, she found herself gingerly patting something soft…someone's head…and there was something else there two, a hard, thin band that was thickest in the middle, and felt like metal…

A split second later the person jumped violently. Haley quickly withdrew her hand as the individual audibly scrambled to his or her feet. There was a heavy footstep as he or she prepared to bolt.

"No! Wait!" Haley bit her lip, even as another step rang through the air another second later. The person was running. "No! Please, stop! You don't need to be afraid!"

More steps and then…silence. Despair welled up inside of Haley, and she wished more than she ever had before that she could _see_…to be able to at least catch a glimpse of this mysterious person, who was so afraid…

"…Please…I wouldn't…"

There was thick silence, and Haley wilted. The person had run away. Of course he or she had. Anyone would. To be that afraid…to run would surely be the best thing to do…

Footsteps. Now barely audible, less frantic. Hesitant, almost puzzled, cautious. Haley lifted her head, peering into eternal darkness. But the footsteps drew closer, until they stopped. She judged that the source couldn't be less than a few feet away…she realized that the person was actually coming back. And then…a voice came. A young man's voice, as far as she knew, but as he spoke, Haley could only puzzle. He was talking, but it was in a language that she couldn't understand. It was beautiful, flowing, and carried the tones of a question, but she couldn't understand.

"…I'm…sorry. But I can't…understand…"

Haley kept her voice low, hoping she wouldn't scare away the young man again. Two footsteps padded on the damp grass, rustling the thin layer of leaves that would be there as well. Then the voice rose again, inquiring. Haley shook her head.

A pause. Then, suddenly, Haley detected something else, the distant wail of a police siren. And there was a squeak of wet grass as the man jumped again. Fear rose to a peak. And then Haley understood in a flash, though she could hardly believe it. She swallowed, grasping the edge of the window a little tighter. Could this person actually be the blue-haired swordsman that Salem had spoken of…? The sirens grew louder. Haley heard the man mutter something in the same language, perhaps along the lines of a curse, or a plea to the heavens. And in that instant she made her decision.

She would help him.

"I - here." She took a step back, and she heard a stir of fabric, perhaps the slightest flutter of a cape, one that Salem had also described. The man had been glancing over his shoulder, but had now turned to her. Haley began to gesture, first to herself, then the man, and then the frame of the window. "Come…come inside. Through here. I'll hide you."

The sirens seemed to multiply as they grew louder. Haley heard the man take a breath, sounding hesitant. He must have understood, but still he hesitated…but why…?

Whatever the reason, it quickly passed. Footsteps resounded again, growing almost nonexistent under the wail of sirens. Haley heard a screeching of wheels, quite close by, as though a car was making a close turn onto this road. Haley took another step back, then moved out of the way of the window, speaking to the man even though she knew he wouldn't understand.

"Come on! Hurry!"

There was a patter of steps, and then an audible fluttering sound. This was followed almost immediately by a thump very close by, and Haley felt herself being clipped on the shoulder by a leg or an arm. She stumbled, losing balance and falling, hitting her head against the wall nearby. Sirens and even more cars bombarded her hearing.

Haley righted her glasses and outstretched a hand, attempting to regain her bearings, and was surprised by the strong, warm grasp of a gloved hand. The man muttered something apologetic, and pulled her to her feet. "Oh! Um…thanks…" Haley blinked, though her sight didn't change. Why were her cheeks so warm…? The sounds outside brought her back to reality, however, and she quickly made her way to the window, hastily pulling it shut. She could feel the presence of the man behind her, nervous and awkward.

Haley sighed and took a step back, wondering what she should do now. What would her parents say if they ever found out that she had willingly let a stranger into the house, much less an apparent criminal? Haley found, not surprisingly, that she didn't care at all. But in the meanwhile…most of the servants were on leave today. Getting around unnoticed would be easy.

Haley turned to the man, hoping he was directly behind her as she had suspected. "Well, now that's over…" She gestured to herself, and then the door. "Why don't you come with me? Perhaps we can get something to eat…I'm rather hungry, myself…"

Haley stepped out of the room, and felt the man following behind her. She also thought she heard the slightest hiss of smooth metal, like a sword being sheathed, and she knew that her suspicions must have been correct. There was a real swordsman here, in her house…her friends would certainly be interested in this…


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Why, oh why would I possibly want to claim the related characters of Super Smash Bros? Well, let's see here…it would prove that I am filthy rich, impress my friends, make obsessed gamers bow down before me…such glory. But that's why 'disclaimers' were invented. To keep people from becoming high and mighty through such tasty lies. Oh, well. We can do nothing but adhere. So I own nothing, except for my OCs.

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A giant yellow mouse picking pieces of china from the floor…

I awoke with a violent start, eyes flying open. I was met with a first-class view of my bedroom ceiling, as white and lumpy and mundane as ever. But relief surged through me as I realized I was lying in bed. It had all been a dream.

And yet…

I turned my head, glancing at the digital clock on my bedside table. Neon numbers flashed in a bored white pallor: twelve-thirty p.m. Now that's late, even for me. I blinked at the clock, but the time didn't change - on the contrary, it grew a little brighter, as though to prove me wrong. And…I stirred, suddenly realizing why I felt so odd. I was in my grey hoodie, and there were my blue fluffy bed slippers, still on my feet…but I never wore those to bed…

To top it all off, the cheerful ding of the house doorbell resounded through the air.

With a groan I sat up, feeling a headache rushing to catch me. This was definitely weird…could it be that…but no! Nothing like that could have happened. That had definitely been nothing but a dream. Right…? I stiffened when there was a creaking click, the unmistakable sound of the front door opening…that was always locked. Which could only mean that someone else was in the house…

I stood up hesitantly and approached my bedroom door, which was slightly open. The hall from my room led to the living room, and happened to have a good view of the front door from the entrance. Now I paused beside my door, peering through the open slit…

There was someone holding the front door open all right, and my stomach frankly disappeared as I spotted a red-and-white cap, splashed in bright sunlight that filtered through. Red took a step back and someone else entered, a tall girl with straight dark hair…but that was Alex!

I gathered my courage, preparing to take on the weirdness galore that threatened to drown me in a severe headache. And I had always liked Saturdays, too…

"Nice to meet you. You must be Red." Alex was already speaking when I stepped into the hall. She noticed the movement, turning to me. "Oh, Taylor, there you are! I see you're getting lazy like me…about time…"

Well, Alex had always been an odd person. Maybe it was something about the way she talked, the way her coal-black eyes flashed, but no one wanted to mess with her. My personally favorite experience with her was when a particular dumb fifth-grader had tried to challenge Alex, demanding she hand over every dollar on her body. Alex, myself, and my friends had been in second grade at the time. And she, in turn, had responded accordingly, and that same bully was found some time later mysteriously trapped in an unused locker within the middle school, across the road, whimpering like a baby. No one had dared to bother her since, or any of her friends. Which, I suppose, would be a plus for me. However, things like the Locker Incident didn't occur often around Alex - most of the time she liked to be extremely lazy more than anything else.

"Alex, I'm not getting lazy," I replied, trying to sound snappish and failing miserably. Alex had that kind of effect on you. "I just…overslept, I guess…"

"Um, actually, you passed out a few hours ago," Red interjected awkwardly. "I was wondering when you'd wake up, too…that vase must have been expensive. Pikachu and I are both really sorry about that…"

And, like magic, the yellow mouse popped up beside the guy, rubbing an ear and gazing at me as though it had never felt so regretful in its life. I couldn't stop the small shriek that escaped from me - I jumped backwards. Was this what it felt like to have a heart-attack?

"I - you - Alex!" I turned frantically to my tough friend, pointing at the baffled Red. "Now you see! I mean…this guy can't be for real…"

"Hey…" Red frowned at me. "What do you mean by that?"

I glared at Alex imploringly, but only felt myself sink deeper into despair as Alex merely frowned slightly, gazing at Red in mild interest. She took note of the balls.

"Oh, he's for real all right. He's the Kanto League Champion, no less."

I could only splutter, at an utter loss of words, as Alex turned to Red. "Don't mind her, she's just shell-shocked." My dark-haired friend smiled warmly. "She's a big fan of yours, you know. And there's only one Red around here, so she really couldn't believe it, I guess. I happen to be an admirer myself, which is why I came here. Your battles were quite impressive."

Red blinked, and then a small smile crept on his lips. "Uh, yeah, I suppose that hype is still going…" He sighed. "I really owe it to my Pokemon, though. I didn't do much. They should have the credit." He cast a glance at the mouse. "…To be honest, though, I was trying to travel incognito for a while, maybe scrape a few good battles here and there with old friends. But then I got lost…I guess stuff like that's just unavoidable."

"Oh, I understand completely." Alex nodded. Then she actually turned to me for the first time where I stood, frozen with disbelief. "Ah…I think it's just getting past her skull. All right with you if I have a private word? Get her brain going again, you know?"

"Sure, that's fine. Tell her I'm sorry for invading on her privacy like this…"

Red's half-hearted smile followed me all the way back to my room, guided by an incredibly calm Alex. As soon as the door swung firmly shut behind us, I rounded on her.

"What the hell was -?"

"Taylor, shut up for a moment."

I closed my mouth right shut then and there, instantly pacified. There was a dangerous glint in Alex's eyes that murdered the words of outrage I'd been about to spout. Yes, she has her methods of getting her way.

"Now, listen to me very carefully, my friend." Complacent, Alex drifted over to my bed and plopped down on the covers, idly fiddling with the edge of the faded purple quilt and gazing leisurely through my window. "…The last thing you need to do is tell him."

"Uh…yeah…tell him _what, _exactly?" I felt my outrage bubbling up again. "Tell him to get out of my house, maybe? To get a reservation at the weirdo asylum? This is -"

Alex held up a hand. Once again the words simply died away. "I did tell you to listen," she replied calmly. "This is serious. This is for real."

"What -?"

"I know what I'm talking about, Taylor." Alex fixed me with her cold stare. My tongue felt as though it had been turned to stone. Alex blinked, then resumed her lazy mannerism. "Since you dropped out of the chat when I was explaining it the first time, I suppose I might as well tell you again." Alex looked at me again, as though she were making sure I wouldn't utter a word. Her hopes were fulfilled. "The guy residing in your house right now is Red."

"Uh…yeah. I kinda already knew that."

Alex sighed, looking exasperated. "Taylor, he's _the_ Red."

"…I don't follow."

"Then start following." Alex reached into the black jacket she was wearing, then pulled a box from underneath. It flashed red in the meager sunlight that poured from the window, and she deftly handed it to me. "Read that."

"O-kay…" Feeling disgruntled and nonplussed, I glared at the cover art. The top of the box read Gameboy Advance, and in the center was a swirling vortex of orange fire. Emerging from the middle was a dragon-thing of some sort, with blue wings and orange skin, fanged mouth open in a fierce roar. And emblazoned over its head was a title. "Pokemon FireRed," I read out loud, feeling bored.

Alex nodded. "A popular title among Nintendo gamers. Including myself."

"All right." I wasn't very interested. One thing I had always been mystified at about Alex was her taste for video games. "That's great, but what does this have to do with the maniac in my house?"

"Not a maniac," Alex retorted wearily. "Turn it over, tell me what you see."

I did what she said, just to make her happy, and skimmed the images displayed there…and then my eyes locked on two inserted pictures. One boy, and one girl, both striking poses. And the boy looked _exactly_ like Red…right down to the weirdly-shaped eyes.

"You see it?"

I looked up and met Alex's eyes, though my brain still refused to believe it.

"Well, it's…coincidental…"

"Very."

There was silence.

"…Wait a minute. You're not saying…"

"Yeah?"

"That…he's…_him_?"

"What do you think?"

"…Truthfully? I think you're crazy."

"So did I. Until I saw him in there." Alex tilted her head at the closed door. "And he'll think you're crazy too, if you told him he was standing in the state of California, in the United States of America."

I stared at her, remembering all too clearly the way Red had looked at me when I had mentioned Japan. Alex stood up. "What I've been trying to tell you, Taylor, is that he's not in the Kanto Region anymore. He's got no idea he's on a totally different world, where everything he knows and believes is only the figment of Nintendo's imagination, a little game to play. We need to give him some time to adjust, to let him ease in. But the thing is that…I think there are more."

I slowly began to shake my head. "…No. No way. It's crazy. Impossible. Stuff like this just can't happen…" I bit my lip. "You're trying to tell me that…that this guy is actually, genuinely the character of this…videogame?"

"…Yeah."

More silence.

"…I don't believe you."

"Suit yourself."

I glared at Alex. I wanted to scream in frustration, to shake her, to make her say that it was all a joke, that she was just playing around. But…this was Alex…the intelligent, lazy girl I had known since first grade…

And she never joked. Ever.

Something snapped inside me. I sighed.

"…What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." Alex stood up. "But I've got an idea."

"Enlighten me."

"…There are more. Like Red. Stranded. That's my assumption." She fixed me with a look. "We've got to find them. Get them somewhere safe. Like that swordsman. In fact, he's already in Haley's mansion. So my thoughts are that we stow them away there."

I blinked, realizing what was happening fully and truly for the first time. That we were about to go on a hunt for video game characters. That we were going to hide them away from police, possibly FBI agents, or worse. It was crazy. But I could only believe.

"…And then?"

Alex looked back at me. "…I'm going to pay the game dealer a visit."

"Right."

Yup, it was official. This was the worst Saturday morning I had ever experienced in my life.


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Okay, I'm really _really_ sorry for the delay in updates here. I apologize directly to you especially, SkylerOcon. Probably really disgusted with me right now…but there wasn't much I could do about it. We've been hit by a snowstorm over on this end, and there was a _massive_ power outage. No Internet access. Trees toppling over power lines all over the place. Icicles that you could kill a person with. Definitely not fun. This stuff seems to be happening on a weekly basis, though…ugh. But anyway, that's over. Time to get on with life.

Disclaimer: OCs are the only things I have a right to claim in this story.

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Salem sat back in her red swivel chair, watching idly as the computer screen logged off and then shut itself down. Then she stood up, gazing emptily into space. She could still see that strange, blue-haired man in her mind's eye…she hoped he was all right. What could he have done to get the police's attention? But the, he was carrying a sword…illegal, by all standards…but it must have been fake, right? Who could tell?

Salem wound a lock of her yellow hair around her finger over and over for several minutes, until she realized what she was doing and glanced at it. She frowned. Were those split-ends she was looking at? Oh dear…

Feeling resigned, she stepped out of her room and into the hall, climbing up a set of stairs and passing her brother's room without a glance backwards. She caught a brief impression of Sam perched on the edge of his bed, fiddling with his Nintendo DS, a look of intense concentration on his face. But Salem ignored him. Her older brother had always been a mystery to her, anyhow, though most girls would say she was the luckiest person in the world to live with someone as handsome as him. Sam did have a handsome look about him, but Salem had never noticed anything out of the ordinary about that sixteen-year-old life-long nuisance.

With these thoughts she stepped into the bathroom, flicking on the light-switch, intent on checking her hair more closely in a mirror, and she was so deep in her thoughts that at first she didn't notice anything amiss. Until…

"Oh, good-a morning! You must-a be the princess-a's new maid, aren't-a you? It's-a pleasure to meet-a you."

Salem looked up in surprise - and leapt backward with a small shriek.

The two men in the bathroom seemed taken aback by this unexpected response. The shorter one, dressed in a red shirt and overalls and wearing white gloves, took a step forward, mustache twitching in agitation, while his taller partner, clad in a green shirt and overalls, looked up from the toolbox lying on the toilet in front of him.

"Oh dear…then again, you might-a not. Many apologies-a. You should-a go to another-a bathroom instead, young mistress-a. This one has-a some plumbing problems, according to the-a princess…"

Salem was at a loss of words for a moment. Then she did the only thing she could think of.

"SAM!! ROBBERS!!"

She cast around frantically, spotted a broom leaning against the wall in the hallway, and grabbed that, taking another few paces from the bathroom door and lobbing it threateningly at the two men. "N-Now, don't you two move! I know karate! And I've got - pepper spray!"

Neither of these facts were true in the least, but Salem made the best of it. She could already hear Sam pounding down the stairs.

"Salem? What are you shouting about?" In moments he was on the landing. Sam was relatively tall for a sixteen-year-old, but he didn't look too threatening for the moment, to Salem's dismay. He held the DS dangling in one hand, and he had an absent expression on his face, as though he had simply been bothered in the middle of a good movie.His curly yellow bangs were almost covering his inquisitive hazel eyes, and the casual white T-shirt and pale blue jeans only added to his harmless personality.

All the same he came forward and stood beside her, gazing mildly at the two 'robbers' that stood in the bathroom, looking eternally confused. His perplexed expression melted into interest. "Hey, so you invited Jake and Joe to the house this early? That's different. Nice costumes, I must say. You two are going to wreck the Halloween party. I didn't know you two were Super Mario fans. Maybe we should talk sometime." He grinned at the two in the bathroom, then turned to his younger sister. "Sis, you've outdone yourself. But next time, you don't need to shout so loudly. A little exercise up the stairs would do you some good." He turned away, hiking up the stairs again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to deal with a glitch in Super Mario World, and I'd rather not be disturbed."

Salem gazed after him, feeling slightly faint. "Glitch?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed mildly, already halfway up. "Pretty weird one, too. The screen's taken on a habit of getting ingulphed in this purple static without warning, and whenever that isn't happening, Mario keeps on disappearing. Everything else is moving, but he just vanishes. It's weird." With those words he was gone, disappearing into his room.

Salem couldn't help but fume after him. Leave it to her ignorant, intolerably mild brother to get herself murdered by house thieves. Did he not see her waving a broom? Swallowing, she began to back away from the door to the bathroom, wondering how fast she could run to get to the phone in the kitchen and dial 911. Not very fast…she wasn't an athletic type of person…

"Hey Bro, something odd's-a going on." The man in green spoke for the first time. He was peering out behind Salem. "Didn't the hall to this-a bathroom have yellow plaster? This-a wall is white."

"Wait-a minute…" The man in red came forward, and Salem jumped backwards, broom braced in front of her. The man merely gazed at her oddly. "Don't-a be scared. We won't-a hurt you." Then he simply brushed past her, into the hall. After taking a look around, he shook his head. "Eh, I don't-a think we're in the princess's castle any-a more."

The man in green stepped out of the bathroom past Salem as well, joining his brother. "You got-a that right, Mario. Do you-a think this is-a the work of Bowser again-a?"

"I'm not-a sure, Luigi…"

Salem stared at the two as they turned to her, looking at her intensely.

"Young lady, could-a you tell us if you have-a seen a large green Koopa around here-a?"

Salem didn't reply for several seconds. She felt utterly weirded out, as they called it.

"Uh…no…never heard of one…"

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I bit into the second quarter-pounder Alex had bought for the two of us at McDonald's, staring at Red as he sat with his Pokemon , as Alex had called them, a few feet away. I don't think I will ever get over the sight of these strange creatures…I admit it, they almost scared me. The Pikachu, as Red called it, was all right - I could get used to it. But the other one I wasn't so sure about.

Alex sipped a little Dr. Pepper from her cup, emblazoned with the McDonald's logo as well, and pointed out the large blue thing with a swirling white belly that had sat down beside Red as soon as he had released it from its pokeball, which was what Alex had referred to the strange red-and-white device as. After swallowing a mouthful of hamburger, she spoke, rather as though she were telling me about the name of a particularly good book.

"That one right there is a Poliwrath…I think it's been with Red since childhood. Master swimmer in every respect, in case you haven't noticed those muscles on its arms and bodice yet. Never fatigues no matter how much it exercises. Some say that it'd have the ability to swim the diameter of the entire Pacific Ocean without much effort. It has three evolutionary stages, starting out from the egg as a Poliwag. Second stage being a Poliwhirl. After that it can evolve into either a Poliwrath or a Politoed. This one's around level eighty, if I remember right."

I glanced at Alex, who was casually dipping a french fry in some ketchup, then looked at the large Poliwrath that was cheerfully eating a handful of some sort of brown pellet beside Red, who seemed perfectly at ease and was biting into a sandwich he had produced from his backpack, which was lying beside him. The Pikachu was sitting beside his knee, eating some brown pellets from a bowl as well, but the other four balls at Red's waist had remained unopened for the time being. I didn't mind that too much - the ones that were out were weird enough as it was. I was just glad that the park was completely empty for today, as most people were either at work or at home watching television. To make things easier, Red had also decided to eat behind a cove of trees, hiding him and his Pokemon from the view of the occasional car that passed by. All the same I was uneasy and tense…what if someone saw him all the same?

I turned back to Alex, agitation renewed. "What did you mean, exactly, when you said that you were going to pay the game dealer a visit? What good would Sakurai be able to do?"

Sakurai Miyamoto was a woman around her mid-twenties that ran a small renting shop for videogames. I had always been slightly unnerved by her - she had a slow, casual atmosphere around her that made you slightly uneasy. And I could still remember a time when there had been this one kid in her shop. The dude had been trying to smuggle a Metroid game out of the shop without paying, but before he had even taken a step towards the door Sakurai had popped up behind him, a mop in hand, and said, "Oh, so you're a Metroid fan, eh? Good choice. Weren't planning to steal it, were you?"

The aisle the guy had been standing in had been completely hidden from the view of the cash register, where Sakurai always sat, and there was not a single camera to be found in the whole shop.

Yes, it was very weird. But I didn't know how Sakurai was going to help in this case.

"Huh?" Alex looked up at her sandwich and stared at me blankly for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, that? I was just talking to myself."

The pit of my stomach dropped again for the umpteenth time.

"What?!"

"I was just talking to myself. I didn't think you'd hear that." Alex sat back on the park bench, gazing at the clear blue sky above. "The particular game you were looking at, I was going to have Sakurai take a look at it too. Going a little defective on me lately. My avatar, which I coincidentally named Red -" She cast a glance at the same guy, who was cheerfully at unawares. " - keeps on vanishing on me. You know, getting wiped off of the field like he doesn't even exist. While everything else just keeps on doing their regular thing, moving around and such. A purple haze blocks the screen occasionally as well." Alex stood up, crumpling the hamburger wrapper she had been holding, and made a shoot for the trash can a few feet away. It landed cleanly inside with a satisfying rustle, and she sat back down. "I had half a mind to let Sam take a look at it, but Salem told me he was busy dealing with a Super Mario World glitch at the moment, during the e-mail conversation. So I was going to pay Sakurai a visit instead."

I was only half listening. "So you're telling me that you have no idea what we're going to do about - well - this?" I cast an arm in Red's general direction, feeling slightly outraged. "I can't believe I actually took you seriously!"

"Well, guess you were listening too hard." Alex gave me a reprimanding glance so mild I only felt more betrayed. "Sometimes I think you take everything too seriously, Taylor."

"You think so? Well, maybe it's because _you_ never take anything seriously at all!"

"Suit yourself." Alex shrugged and stood up again, tilting the almost empty cup of soda in one hand. "I didn't ask you to get involved. That's your problem. But I think we should get going. Sakurai closes up around two today." She tossed the cup in the trash as well, then stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. Then, without another word, she turned and trudged up to Red, who seemed to be finished with his own lunch. I gazed after her, fuming, but I soon forgot my grudge momentarily as Red raised a pokeball. A red laser suddenly shot out from the knob at the front, engulfing the acquiescent Poliwrath, and then drew back, the shape of the Poliwrath melting and receding with it. In seconds the large Pokemon was completely gone.

Alex stopped beside him as he stood up, slinging his pack over one shoulder. The Pikachu leapt up his arm and perched on his opposite shoulder, cocking a curious ear in my direction. I quickly averted my gaze to the road, and my cell phone started ringing almost at that exact moment. Even as I dug that out of my pocket, Alex was speaking.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"Oh, I'm not really sure…I'm obviously lost, so I was wondering if maybe there's a Pokemon Center here? That way I could phone Professor Oak or something…"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid this town doesn't have one. Say, why don't you stay here for a while? My house is free, I don't think my mom would mind, at least until you know where to go next again."

"Oh, I don't know…"

I tuned out their voices, bending my attention on my cell instead.

"Hello?"

"Taylor, is that you?"

I sighed inwardly. "What now, Salem?"

"Um, I was wondering, if you could come to my house? Like, maybe, I don't know…_now?_"

"Why?"

"Well, there are these two weird men that I found in the bathroom, and they aren't going anywhere…asking weird questions, too…and Sam thought they were Jake and Joe in Halloween costumes, and he left me down here with them…"

I blinked at this, though I wasn't too surprised. Salem's brother Sam was drop-dead handsome, but he wasn't much when it came to socializing. If anything, he was more of a computer geek if anything else, and was obsessed with videogames of any sort. Alex thought he was all right, of course, but that was Alex. I tended to avoid him more. He was always a little too mild for my taste.

Salem was still talking, her voice very fast. "…and I thought they were burglars, but now I'm not so sure…"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I'll come over. Probably just a couple of renegade advertisers that didn't have anyone respond to the doorbell. I'll -"

A deafening roar drowned out the rest of my words, which I couldn't remember saying anyway. I heard Salem shriek on the other side of the phone, and then there was static, followed by the artificial tones of an operator.

"We're sorry, but the link of this call has been terminated and is therefore no longer accessible. To redial, press one; to -"

I left it at that, snapping my cell phone shut. My heart was racing as I turned around to yell at Alex - only to topple over as there was a massive explosion right behind my back. Dazed, my face in dirt, I could only listen to the sounds that washed over me in a confusing medley. First Alex's frantic voice, calling my name, and then a whistle as something flew over my head. Then another voice, this one deep and angry, resounded right behind me, as though outraged.

"What trickery is this?!"

Then Red's voice broke through, suddenly sharp and clear, a command.

"Pikachu, thunder!"

"PIKA!"

I cringed as there was suddenly a rumble, followed by the unmistakable crack of a thunderbolt. I thought I heard the same man behind me grunt, followed by some sort of muffled curse. I tried to raise my head, but was blinded again by a flash of violet light. Then something large and hard hit me on the back of the head, and I blacked out.

And far above our heads there was a flash of white light, followed seconds later by a hiss of cut air as a small silver ship, lined in blue, streaked across the sky in pursuit of another ship similar to it, firing a barrage of green lasers.

A/N: Well, there you go. Hopefully the story is beginning to get more interesting. So toodles, until next time.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Eh…um…sorry? Yeah yeah, I've been quiet for a while…writer's block, you know…the story's reaching its tough stage. But I shalt remain persistent!! …Well, it was worth trying the medieval line, I suppose…

Disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing. Except OCs. Though you probably already knew that. Either that, or you just randomly clicked on this chapter.

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Haley chewed slowly on her peanut butter sandwich, listening with increasing unease to the radio as it spoke on.

"…there are police going over the scene as we speak. Once again, for those who have just tuned on, there has been a bombing reported at the city square, in the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Park…investigation is initiating as we speak…all citizens are requested to remain calm and within their homes at all times. And now we turn back to Tom in the K29 chopper for the latest info. What have you got, Tom?"

The muffled voice of a man reached Haley's ears, fuzzy amid coughs of static and the beat of the helicopter he was inside.

"Yup, it's quite a fix we've got down there, Mary. The police are currently searching for the possible suspect, as well as the possibility of another bomb. FBI Agents are arriving now, as we speak…once again, it is assumed to be a terrorist attack and everyone is to remain on high alert."

"Thank you, Tom, and now I have a few questions. Does it look to you like there might have been anyone at the scene of the bomb? Any casualties known as of now?"

"Well, it's hard to say, Mary. There are vague reports about the park being almost empty at the time, though there are also rumors that there was one casualty…oh, wait, turns out those rumors were right. Currently scoping in on an ambulance that has just arrived at the scene…and yes, they're bringing out a stretcher. Looks like a girl that's been injured…"

"Yes, and thank you again for your visionaries, Tom."

"No prob, Mary."

There was a pause and a rustle of papers as Mary then proceeded with her report. "And now, on a second noting, there have been recent reports of a kidnapping in Fifth Street along the western sector of town…and we will keep you updated on that as well…"

Haley swallowed the mouthful. She had never felt so anxious before. Downing the last of her cup of water, she stood up and cautiously wove her way around the dining table and disposing of her saucer and cup on the kitchen sink, deep in thought. The kitchen itself, one of the three scattered in the mansion, had been extremely quiet ever since she and the swordsman had entered, and Haley knew that the current newcomer was sitting at the opposite end of the table, his clothes rustling occasionally as he shifted, obviously taking in his undoubtedly strange surroundings. He had uttered not a word since entering, even in his lilting tongue, though he had accepted a cup of orange juice Haley had offered him.

As though on cue, Mary on the radio moved on to that particular tidbit of news.

"And it is a turbulent day we're having in this small town, if these faithful listeners would agree. Already we have yet another report of trouble in a gift shop, where a strangely-dressed man with a sword was reported to have broken in. Apparently he departed just as quickly without taking anything with him, although the reported cashier in charge was well at his mercy. The third sector of our police force has been pursuing him and has briefly lost counter of his whereabouts as we speak, so for all of you listening, keep your eyes and ears open for him. We have a hotline here for those who might spot this man…"

Broken into a gift shop…Haley frowned slightly at this, one hand curled on the edge of the kitchen counter as she thought about it. No, the man sitting here did not seem at all capable of such an act, although she could not think of any other swordsman that might be running around town. And anyway, if he was really a criminal, wouldn't he have taken her hostage or something by now?

The phone began to ring at that moment. Or several phones at once, in fact, for one was situated in every other room in the house, all of them connected to the same line. Haley thought she heard a sharp rustle of cloth as the swordsman jumped in his seat. The particular white phone in the kitchen grabbed Haley's immediate attention, however, and ignoring the swordsman briefly she navigated to it.

"This is the McKenly premise. How may I help you?"

That was the way her parents had taught her to answer any phone call, a protocol drilled into her even as a small child when she could still see. The habit was pretty much unbreakable by now, though Haley hated the official stiffness of it. Of course, the answer was meant to appease businessmen that would almost always be on the other end, but still…why couldn't a simple hello suffice?

"Oh, Haley, thank goodness…that is you, right?"

"Sam? Yes, it's me." Haley blinked, feeling surprised. She had never heard dreamy Sam sound so…worried before. Almost panicky. Most definitely panicky. "What is it? Did one of your games blow up or something?"

This comment was a standing joke between them, but it seemed to fly right over Sam's head now. Haley frowned. Yes, there was definitely something wrong.

"Look Haley, it isn't that at all. It's…oh God, how do I explain it…?"

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"You wouldn't believe this…"

"Try me, honest."

"Um…well…Salem's just been carried off by this giant turtle with - with a mohawk."

Okay, maybe not wrong. Just crazy. "Sam, are you all right?" Feeling genuinely concerned, Haley twisted the phone cord anxiously between her fingers. "Are you staying up all night again? Insomnia isn't good for the human mind, you know…"

"Argh, this is exactly what I was afraid of! Haley, I'm not kidding…seriously, I'm not! I know what I saw! And what I saw was my little sister being carried off by Bowser!"

"Um…okay, you're beginning to scare me a little, Sam." Haley bit her lip. "Isn't Bowser that…Koopa thing in one of your video games? What was it now…Super Mario World?"

"You couldn't be more right." Sam sounded really stressed out now. Haley could just imagine him running a flustered hand through his golden curls. "It was Bowser, of all people…busted through the living room wall, he did, Salem screaming blue murder…and Jake and John actually took off after him!" Haley heard him emit a sort of low moan.

"Sam, maybe you should lay down…call a doctor, perhaps?"

Sam didn't seem to hear one word. "Can't have been him, though…" The sixteen-year-old was muttering, almost feverish by the sound of it. "That isn't possible…looked so real…but…must have been someone dressed up in a Halloween costume…yeah…a serial killer…oh God! Haley - Haley, what am I going to do? Salem might be murdered by now!"

"Oh!" Haley's throat closed at the very thought. Suddenly the whole situation seemed quite a bit more grim. "Have you tried calling the police, maybe?"

"Are you kidding? Already did…but they're not believing a word I'm saying…"

"I don't blame them…"

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Haley sighed. "How about…your dad…?"

"Well - yeah - dad…well…" Sam seemed to be trying with a great effort to regain some composure. "Despite my story, the officers know for sure that Salem's definitely gone, and the hole in the wall isn't something you miss…they've phoned him up, and mom, too…they're probably heading over right now."

"I see…okay, then." Haley paused for a moment, swallowing. "I'll call Taylor, then…she has Salem's cell phone number. Maybe then we can try and contact her or something…"

"Yeah, I think that'd be a -"

"There is a second call waiting to be answered." Haley flinched slightly as the automated tones of an operator suddenly broke through Sam's voice, cutting him off abruptly. "Caller ID: Miyamoto, Sakurai. You have twenty seconds to switch to call. To switch, press one; to continue with current conversation, press three. Thank you for your consideration."

The operator fell silent, and Sam's words rushed back, as though he had been talking the entire time.

" - think that's dad's car pulling into the driveway now -"

"Okay Sam, Sakurai's calling me. Think I'd better answer. I'll call you back as soon as possible, though, okay?"

"Oh…yeah, alright…"

"You now have eleven seconds…ten…nine…"

"Bye!" Ignoring the droning operator's countdown, Haley dialed one and greeted this new caller.

"This is McKenly - uh - yeah, hello?"

"Ah, Haley, there you are." Sakurai's cool voice filled Haley's ear. Haley had always liked the calm woman…there was a strange friendly allure about her that had always made Haley feel at ease. "Alex here would like to have a word with you at the moment."

"Alex?" Haley blinked. Since when had Alex needed her advice on what video game to buy? "Uh, sure, put her in."

"Haley, you there?"

"About as here as I'll be. Oh, and I just wanted to tell -"

"Um, look, I've got news for you, so it'll have to wait." Haley blinked, surprised at her usually sluggish friend's quick interjection. "Look…do you know about that bomb that went out in the town square yet?"

"Oh, the terrorist attack? Yeah, what abou -""Haley, that wasn't a bomb. But I'll explain later. Look, Taylor's probably in the hospital by now -"

"What?"

"Eh, she got knocked out by Ganondorf's blast, and I had to leave her behind to get these people somewhere safe. The police were almost on us by about that time. Word spread fast."

"I - but -" Haley couldn't help but splutter. What in the world was a Ganondorf? "You - you left Taylor behind after she'd been knocked out by a bomb?!"

"It wasn't a bomb, and she's alright! Haley, listen this isn't the time to be skeptical. I need you to get a hold of Salem for me, she lives closest to you, and I don't have her number -"

"Um, yeah, unfortunately, Salem's been kidnapped, so I can't help you there."

There was a pause at the other end. "…Kidnapped?"

"Yeah. Sam just called me about it. She got abducted by a guy in a Halloween costume, I think. Busted through the wall of the house, too."

"Ah…did Sam mention exactly what costume this was?"

"Well, he mentioned something called a Bowser -"

"Say no more. I'm at Sakurai's shop. I think you should come here now. And…I don't suppose you've seen that blue swordsman, haven't you?"

"Uh…" Haley looked up, cocking an ear at where the swordsman sat. He was still there, as far as she could tell. "…Why do you ask?"

"Well, he isn't exactly safe out in the city streets."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Let's just say a lot more like him are beginning to drift in…"

"…Okay. And?"

"…Sakurai's. Now. Then I might be able to explain."

Alex hung up.

Haley paused, then put the phone back in its receiver and sighed to herself. The day had just gotten very strange, more strange than she had ever imagined. And then her alert ears caught a thread of the radio, still on and chattering.

"…and apparently there has now been a recent tip as to the whereabouts of the man with the sword, just come in recently. Hello, sir?"

"Ah, yes, I just wanted to say that I caught sight of this man at the house next door…big place, a rich family. A poor blind girl was there, and that crook jumped through the window and might be holding her hostage right now. Saw it with my own two eyes."

Haley's stomach dropped as she listened to the unmistakable voice of the next-door neighbor, Mr. Howards. He was a vain and jealous man, constantly living in the shadow of her family's wealth, and had the eyes of a hawk. His long neck seemed to be made to spy on others. How could she have forgotten him…?

No doubt he had already tipped off the police. Which meant that this swordsman wouldn't have much time.

With a decisive jerk Haley turned around and addressed the man.

"Okay. We are going somewhere now, somewhere safe. And we must make haste." She gestured, then felt the chair in front of her until the caught hold of the folds of a jacket she had hung there. "Come on."

And, much to her relief, she heard the hiss of a chair as the swordsman stood up as well.

--

Alex placed the phone back in its receiver with a sigh. She hadn't felt this anxious since that time when her father's letters had stopped coming…shaking away the memory with a deft movement of her head, she turned away and shoved her hands deeper into her pockets, taking in her surroundings more carefully.

Sakurai's apartment, which was situated directly above her store and was connected to it by a set of stairs, did not seem that worse for wear, considering Sakurai's own status as a simple small-time game dealer. It had four rooms and was spacious for an apartment, with its own enclosed bathroom and kitchen, as well as a bedroom that was actually derived from the living room. Now she stood in the living room, which had your average-sized television and a small stereo that sat on a small desk beside a window looking out to the town beyond. This was coupled with two dark blue and slightly sagging couches placed side-by-side against the opposite wall, separated only by a small square table bearing a vase that contained a frail-looking plant adorned with small pink blossoms. There was a foreign cleanliness about the whole place, a bright organized tidiness, that set its tenant apart from other Americans. Sakurai had, besides, originally moved here from Japan.

However, the current inhabitants of the living room were a little less than normal. Pikachu was curled up on the sofa nearest to Alex beside a prostate Red, wide amber eyes following the sluggish movements of a lime green lava lamp that had been perched hastily on top of one of the stereo's speakers, black-tipped ears tilting and cocking delicately as the curious electric mouse examined these new surroundings with interest. Red himself, though still visibly shaken by the recent events that had taken place about half an hour before, had immersed himself in a bright red Pokedexter. Its soft beeps and chirps filled the otherwise silent room.

And this silence was mainly due to the slightly awkward presence of another person, standing at the far end of them room in the shadows, bright eyes that matched the shade of a clear summer sky darting uneasily. He was clad in a forest-green tunic and wore a pointed hat over his thick gold bangs, and his face, with its sharp contours and pointy ears, had the look of someone derived straight out of a story book. He wore white leggings beneath a pair of thick leather boots, and each of his gloved hands carried the burden of the weapons he had refused to stow as of now - a large shield in his right, and a long, glowing, double-edged blade with a blue winged cross guard in his right.

Alex knew exactly who he was, as any Nintendo fan probably would.

At length she stepped away from the curtained window and came forward, coming to a halt a few feet away from the alarmed swordsman. She wasn't yet sure if he would understand the English language…he was from Hyrule, besides, and they might very well have an entirely different tongue for all she knew…but it was worth a try.

"…Your name is Link, am I right? You're the bearer of the Triforce of Courage."

The swordsman's eyes burned into her like cold flames, curious and alarmed all at once. For a moment he looked about to respond, but clearly stopped himself, his face a carved mask of impassiveness. Alex had expected that too, however. In the games he had never been one to talk much, anyhow. In fact, on some occasions, he never did. But at least he apparently understood her. That was enough for now.

"Don't worry," she said calmly, smiling slightly. "Your secret is safe with me. We are not your enemies. At the moment, however, we're all in a substantial amount of danger. You probably already know this, but you're in an entirely different world. To put it bluntly. So be on guard."

Link's expression flickered briefly, a flash of emotion crossing his face, but it was gone as quickly as it had gone. Alex left it at that, turning away, to find Red staring at her with an almost equal amount of intensity.

Alex blinked at him, then smiled again, wider, and scratched her neck. "Oh, you heard that? My bad, I guess."

Red never loosened an inch, unfazed by her casual tone. Alex's smile slowly faded away, and she sighed, coming forward and plopping down one cushion away from Red. She leaned back, gazing at the white ceiling over her head.

"…So. How long have you known?"

Pikachu leapt into Red's lap; he patted it gently on the head. "A while. Ever since your friend overreacted over that vase. A little too panicked to be psyched out over an antique. She had a different quality of astonishment. That and…I had a while to think about it."

Alex nodded peaceably. "Perfectly understandable," she agreed mildly.

"…So you knew that I knew all along too."

"Yeah. Though you could never be too careful." Alex blinked, glancing for a moment at a door at the other end of the room, the one that led down a set of stairs to the shop full of videogames below. Sakurai had yet to return. Alex turned back to Red, who was now looking at her critically.

"One thing that's been bugging me, though…" he said slowly, frowning slightly. "If this really is a completely different world…how did you know about me and the Pokemon League?"

Alex glanced at him, a true frown now on her face. "…Well, I think I'll be holding back that bit of info for now. A little too much for the present moment. And I'm still not entirely sure…" Her voice faded, and she stopped speaking, staring emptily into space, deeply in thought. Red frowned, but knew by experience that it was best to leave it alone. This girl was obviously not one to spill everything too easily.

Instead he glanced at the swordsman who still stood where Alex had left him. To his surprise Red realized that the green-clad person had sheathed his sword behind his back, where it now hung beneath the shield the swordsman had slung there as well, and even as Red looked he strode to the window and paused beside it, a slight frown on his face as he peered out beyond.

"…I still can't believe how that man survived Pikachu's thunder attack," Red said distantly, talking to no one in particular as he recalled the happening. It had been more of an instinctive command to attack, really, something unintentional…that man had been on the verge of attacking Taylor…yet the attack had been nullified by that strange violet shield the man had put up, though he had fled despite.

"Well, that's an evil Gerudo king intent on taking over the world for you, my good Pokemon Trainer. And we've got more than just one villain on the loose." Alex rose from her seat as Link glanced at her, hearing her words. Red was looking at her with a baffled expression. "Never mind that," Alex reprimanded, waving away any incoming questions. "All in good time. Right now I'm going to check up on Sakurai, so you guys just stay here and try not to destroy the place, all right?"

Before either of them could say a word she was gone, through the door, her footsteps thumping on the immediate staircase soon fading away.

"Well, she's a secretive one," Red muttered to himself.

"Pika!"

The swordsman turned away from the window at that moment, finally studying Red curiously.

"…You don't belong here either?" he inquired, speaking for the first time. His voice was slightly husky but otherwise quite resonant, making Red jump slightly.

"Huh? Oh…well, this certainly isn't the Kanto region, I know that much…"

There was an awkward silence.

"…My name's Red. It's nice to meet you."

The swordsman's face seemed to ease slightly. "I'm Link. Same here."

"Nice to know. What do you think of…well, her?" Red tilted his head in the door's direction.

"…Not sure. I don't know if we should trust her."

"Well, she obviously knows a bit about each of us." Red frowned. That thought was slightly disturbing in its own right. "…Seems the only person we can really rely on here, though."

"If you say so."

Silence ensued once again, but this time it was slightly more friendlier than before. Red, receding to his own thoughts, noted how Link didn't say much, though whatever he said seemed to be worth hearing when he did speak. An odd quality…but Red shrugged that off. There had always been a lot to know about the world…even if this was a different one altogether.

--

Dennis blinked at the camera image before him, not quite sure if he should even take it seriously. He swallowed. Already he had only been an hour in his father's office and something had gone wrong, or very weird, at any rate.

With a manipulation of the keyboard he managed to zoom towards two particular objects of his current concern. The bespectacled boy frowned heavily, leaning towards the screen as the picture finally sharpened once more. His mouth dried.

For caught in the spur of five hundredths of a second and revealed only by the high-tech capabilities of the image scanner, clear as daylight, were two fighter ships, one lined in blue, the other a tarnished sort of golden-gray edged with violet, one shooting a barrage of green lasers after another. Otherwise known as a classic pair of UFOs, snatched right out of a sci-fi movie, a Star Wars fantasy. Sitting there right in front of Dennis's nose.

Dennis simply stared for a moment. Then he slowly raised his head.

"Um…dad? You might want to come see this…"

A/N: Hm, a slightly longer chapter than usual. This is getting good. But speaking of which…see that little square button below this line, the one with the word 'Go'? Why not click on it and see what it does, eh? You know you want to… ;)


End file.
